98camaro28

iTrader: (21)

I have the Sportline springs (I know, I know, it was an impulse purchase. Please don't stop reading. ) Here's a few pics of how it sits now. (With my old wheels/tires)











And my dilemma:

I have about 150 lbs of stereo equipment in the hatch of my car, including a battery. This, of course, makes my rear sag even more. It is causing my 315/30/18 R888s to rub, and Im not even comfortable driving my car anymore because I don't want to ruin them.

The front of my car is so low that my alignment is maxed out around -3.5*. Again, I don't want to ruin my tires, so I need to raise it up JUST ENOUGH to get it to about -1.5-2*.

I LOVE the look of a lowered car with the wheels tucked, so something adjustable would be awesome so I could: A) Lower it for shows/looks. B) Raise it up for driving (I do a lot of canyon carving and run the 1/4 often aswell) and C) lift it up for getting underneath instead of carrying 2x4s around everywhere I go just to get a jack under it.

Ride quality with air should be really good, but Im worried about it affecting performance. I want my car to corner very well, and launch well aswell, but Im not too sure how air would do performance wise. I thought of using the Airlift 1000 in the back and still using some kind of spring or just flat out use a Firestone F9000 and try to figure out something for the front for the time being.

Money is definitely a factor. I plan on going with SLP Bilsteins all around. (Can't afford Konis, and will never justify spending $1000 on a set of shocks until Im making 100K+/year, which isn't going to happen.)

Im not going to give up a nice stance, but wouldn't mind compromising a little for performance. Ride quality matters, but not too much. It's not a DD by any means.

What are my best options? How will air ride affect performance, both launching (only on DRs and a 10-bolt for now) and handling? Keep in mind the purpose of utilizing air it NOT to drag my car's *** around. I am just trying to find a means of quality, performance, and ease of adjustability.

What does everybody think? I want to get it all ordered by next week. THANKS FOR THE INPUT!!!

JD_AMG

Not to be a dick but im surprised you can canyon crave with it sitting that low.
Anyway, JasonWW wanted a similar setup as well and has somewhat of a build thread for it.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...-trans-am.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...cks-350-a.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...ock-mount.html

A problem with Air suspension is you lower the car by taking air out of the bag, and in turn this makes the suspension "softer" (easier to bottom out), opposite of what you want when you reduce suspension travel.

lol at this logic...
First and foremost, I don't know where you get the $1000 figure from, Koni 4/3s can be bought for $750:
http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=20&ModelID=7
Second, thats the same logic as saying "I can't justify paying $10,000 for an LS1 Fbody until I'm making a 100K+ a year, so Ill just go for 305 3rd gen instead, its still a Camaro right?"
Shocks are the last place you want to go cheap on, especially if you want a good handling, stable, predictable car. Konis on my car made the biggest difference of all, and it would be the first mod I would do without even thinking twice.

98camaro28

iTrader: (21)

I don't see how you can be surprised about my ability to canyon carve. Even a school bus can canyon carve, just not at a high speed. Granted that my height is holding me back, it's still not as bad as Im assuming you're thinking.

I have read through JasonWW's threads many times. That was my motivation for even considering all this in the first place. I even did the mod to the upper shock mount.


As far as your metaphor goes about my logic on justifying spending that much money on shocks, I completely disagree. An F-body is a budget performance car, just like Bilstein is a budget performance shock. Saying that my choice in Bilstein over Koni is synonymous with a $10,000 4th gen over a "305 3rd gen" is completely asinine.

And I do realize the issue with the bags being softer as the height is decreased. That is one thing that I have an issue with, and is why Im only considering air ride at all. Has anybody ever seen a setup with say a 100 lb spring and an air-assist system, such as the Airlift 1000? That should provide a decent amount of rate for street driving, right? I honestly don't have an idea wether it would or not. Im not a suspension genius by any means, which is why Im asking for suggestions.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

I wouldn't worry about the rear air springs being to soft.
The Firestone 9000 air springs on my car will rarely bottom out the rear suspension, even with them at a ride height lower then most lowering springs.

BTW, which Sportline springs do you have, LT1 Sportline or LS1 Sportline?
The LS1 sportline springs have a lot better (stiffer) spring rates then the LT1 sportline.
An easy way to lift the front a little is to put a double stack of 1/8" washers between each lower shock mount bolt hole and the lower A-arm, for a total of 4 washers per front side of the car. This will raise the front up 3/8"-1/2". The only down side is you won't gain any suspension travel form raising the front up that way, but is should matter to much since you've done the UMM.

98camaro28

iTrader: (21)

I have the LS1 sportlines. And Im probably going to use the washers to space up the front just a hair until I have something else figured out. How much do you estimate Ill need to bring the front up to give me an extra 1 or 1.5* of camber?

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

Do you have the factory upper arms?
You shouldn't have a problem with to much negative camber with the factory upper arms, my front ride height is right about 25-5/8" and had no problem having the camber set to -.8*.
Are you sure you have a good alignment guy setting your front-end alignment?

98camaro28

iTrader: (21)

Yeah Im positive. I used to work at the shop that did the alignment. Its adjusted ALL THE WAY out and is still -3*. And I have the stock arms.

JD_AMG

I meant more like bouncing off the bump stops, or scraping bumps while driving aggressively, not just leisurely.

I guess this is where we see it differently. I don't see bilstien as a "budget performance shock", I see them as a shock to work with stock height/rate springs, where as konis are a "budget" shock for lowering springs and handling applications (you could always go to a much more expensive custom valved race shock or coilover). Its really easy for me a justify spending $750 on something that completely transforms my car and makes it feel more like a $50,000 car, and especially if that extra $350 over bilstiens gets me adjustability, better valving, and a lifetime warranty. What about those 315s in the rear, how much do those tires cost, and how often do they need to be replaced? Its kinda funny because Im really on the fence about getting new wheels/tires, but its hard for me to justify paying that much for something like that...
Is the Airlift similar to a "drag bag" (or whatever they are called) that you can put in the middle of the rear spring and inflate/deflate?

98camaro28

iTrader: (21)

I see your point. I ordered Strano springs and Im debating on whether or not to just spent the money on the Konis or just get the SLP Bilstiens and put the extra money towards swaybars. I really wish I could feel what a strano/koni-fied car handles and drives like in person vs the Bilstiens. Just for curiosity, what kind of warranty do both companies have? How does the warranty for the Konis work?